


Marked

by DeadricDaughter19



Series: Transformers: Soulmate [1]
Category: Bumblebee (2018), Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alien Culture, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bumblebee and Charlie are Really Good Friends, Complete, Cultural Differences, Discussion About Soulmates, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Relationships, One Shot, Potential Spoilers, Referenced Characters, Short, soul marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-17 12:27:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17560376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadricDaughter19/pseuds/DeadricDaughter19
Summary: Charlie Watson has always wondered about the Marked - humans born with Soulmates. Brighton Falls is a Marked Community and she's one of the few Markless who live there. She always felt out of place, lonely. Then, Charlie met Bumblebee and she wondered if the feelings she felt when she met him were at all how it felt to meet one's Soulmate.Bumblebee is one of the Marked, something very rare amongst the Cybertronian race. He knows that Charlie is not his Sparkmate, as she bares not Marks upon her frame. Even so, he cannot help but feel that he finally found a kindered spirit at the very least. Someone who understands what it's like to be amongst the rare, a societal outcast for something they could not control. She is not his Sparkmate, but he still vows to protect her and all her own as if she was. He will not let her continue to feel alone.





	Marked

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be a start of my own personal Transformers Soulmate AU, in which Sam Witwicky is the child of Memo and Charlie Watson. It's also a gender-change AU where Sam is a girl, just to give you all forewarning about that. Also, just a heads up: there might be spoilers for the Bumblebee movie. Not entirely sure, but just remember to read at your own discretion.
> 
> Oh, and since Memo doesn't have an officail last name, I'm making his last name Witwicky for the purposes of this AU.

It was on the third anniversary of the day they officially met that she noticed it. The Mark was about the size of her hand and looked almost like it had been painted onto his armor. She tried to figure out what it was - it almost looked like a shield from what she could tell, one that definitely wasn't an Earth design. She wasn't sure  _how_ she knew what it was, but she knew that it could be nothing other than a Soul Mark. His Symbol specifically, she was certain.

"Hey, 'Bee? Do... Do Star-Striders have Soulmates?" Charlie asked him hesitantly, looking at her friend curiously.

"Star-Strider" was the term she had come up with to call his kind, since he couldn't properly tell her what they were actually called through the radio. He never protested the name she had come up with, and even seemed to like the term. The yellow creature turned towards her, sky colored optics searching her face as he tried his best to translate her term - Soulmate - to what would be the closest equivalent. He'd gotten better at it over the three years he'd been on Earth and it wasn't too long before his optics lit up with her meaning. He nodded, somewhat enthusiastically.

 _"We call... them... spark... mates..."_ Bumblebee relayed, having cotton better a splicing sentences together. Once he could splice a word together, he'd tell her the proper term for his kind and his faction.  _"Why do... you... ask... Charlie?"_

"I noticed your Symbol," Charlie replied, pointing to the palm-sized image. Noting his shocked expression, she giggled. "Humans have Symbols too - well,  _some_ do, anyways. I'm one of the Markless - my whole family is, actually. Memo's the only one of his family whose Markless. Brighton is a Marked Community, hence why he and I are treated like outcasts."

 _"Marks... are... common place... here?"_ Bumblebee asked, his door wings twitching in shock.

"Yeah," Charlie nodded with a grin before realizing what he said. "Wait - are, are they rare among your kind?"

The scout nodded sadly, giving his equivalent of a sigh. It sounded like a kind of  _whirr_ , but with some tones thrown into it. Charlie saw his depressed look and wondered if... No, it couldn't be that, right?

"Hey, 'Bee? How... How common is it for a Star-Strider to not ever meet their Sou- Sparkmate?" her question was soft, hesitant.

 _"Common... Many... have gone... insane... in their... search..."_ Bumblebee replied.  _"I have... done my best... to not... allow myself... to... waste... away."_

Charlie was quiet at that, unsure what else to say. The woman looked up at the sky, thinking over the information her friend had given her. She didn't want to think, to ask, how common it was for a Star-Strider to die young because of an incomplete Bond. She assumed it was extremely common, and chose not to ask.

_"Tell me... about... Soul...mates?"_

Charlie blinked before a smile curled her lips. She shifted to face Bumblebee once more, seeing his gaze watching her intently to show she had his full attention.

"Well, I don't know everything since I'm not Marked, but I have taken  _Soulmates 101_ ," Charlie said. "However, the most basic and common knowledge is the fact that every Marked has  _two_ Marks - the First Phrase and The Symbol. The Symbol is the crutch, the definition of the bond. It's what draws the two together, and the thing unique to them and them alone."

_"First Phrase?"_

"The very first words one's Soulmate ever speaks to them," Charlie clarified. "It can rang from anything, such as "What's your name?" to a simple "Hello". Some of the wilder ones I've heard of is  _"So, want me to give you a private show?"_ and  _"Sweet Mother Hubbard."_ If you've said someone's First Phrase and they've said yours, then it's time to check the Symbols. If the Symbols match, then the two are a Match."

 _"Why do... you call... the First Phrase... a Mark? We have... it too... The first words... and their... voice... is imprinted... upon... our... sparks..."_ Bumblebee looked somewhat confused.

"Oh, so you guys just have it automatically memorized?" Charlie blinked. "For humans, it shows up on the body like the Symbol does - as a kind of tattoo."

The two continued to talk about Soul Marks for some time, comparing notes. Charlie never once broached the subject about the fates of those who never met their mates and when they died. She didn't want to know, as she knew it would break her heart to think of Bumblebee suffering that fate. As they talked, Bumblebee began to uncover to just  _what_ extent Charlie had been harassed over her lack of Marks. It pissed him off, to be quite plain. He didn't understand what it was like to be harassed over it, but he understand just how isolated she felt in a community of Marked when she was Markless. He had often felt so very isolated due to the fact that he  _was_ Marked while the majority of his race was Markless.

Bumblebee was surprised to learn that the Marked and Markless on Earth had rough fifty-fifty split in the population. Of course, it wasn't distributed easily and the U.S.A. was particularly heavily populated with Marked, so there wasn't really anywhere that Charlie could go to avoid being harassed. He didn't blame her when she revealed that she and Memo would be moving to a town named Tranquility, which had a fairly even spread of Marked and Markless. He had no idea about the mortality rate that came along with being Marked for humans, as a Cybertronian could survive never meeting their mate so long as they both remained online.

It wasn't until a year later that he learned that humans couldn't survive never meeting their Soulmate. He learned this when Memo and Charlie met him at their usual meeting place, the two very clearly distraught. Alarmed, Bumblebee had demanded what was wrong and scanned them. The next thing he knew, he was frozen as something was placed into his servo. His systems froze in shock as he stared at the tiny, alien creature that he literally held in the palm of a single hand. It took a moment for him to realize what he was seeing, optics shuttering as he wrapped his processer around it.

A sparkling. A  _human sparkling_ whose genetic make-up was a mixture of Charlie and Memo's. The two had a  _creation_. And, for some reason unknown to him, Charlie immediately spun on her heel and stormed off back to her and Memo's car, where she stayed for some time. Turn his optics to Memo, the man offered a weary, strained grin.

"Bee, meet Samantha Honeybee Witwicky," Memo finally said. "We went with my name because Charlie and I are going to get married in about two months. Her middle name is Honeybee because... Well, you really changed out lives, 'Bee. I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather name her after. You're the best candidate. Has Charlie explained what godparents are? 'Cause as far as she and I are concerned, you're out little Honeybee's godfather."

Bumblebee's processor was swimming as he processed everything he had just been told in one fell swoop by the human mech. Charlie and Memo, in about two Earth orns, would be bonded. They had a  _sparkling_ already, and had named said sparkling after  _him_. And had basically named him her guardian if  _anything_ happened to them. If it wasn't for the fact he could still detect the distress from the two humans, he would have been practically vibrating and buzzing with excitement. Looking between the tiny creature that he carefully cradled in his palm and the little sparkling's sire, he could tell that Memo knew his unspoken question.

_If this is such a joyous occasion, why the long faces?_

"Bumblebee... I don't know how it works for you Star-Striders, but... Humans... Humans don't live past the age of twenty-five if they don't find their Soulmate, if they're Marked," Memo said softly. "Me and Charlie - if we're lucky, we'll live to be seventy, maybe eighty. But Honeybee here - she's Marked, 'Bee. Not just Marked, but she has  _two_ First Phrases. I don't know if Charlie has told you about how dangerous that can be yet, or even if she  _knows_ herself..."

Bumblebee felt dread pooling in his spark as he watched Memo shudder.  _No_ , the Autobot thought desperately.  _Not their sparkling_.

"She has  _two_ Soulmates and you'd think that'd  _increase_ her chances-," a broken laugh bubbled up from the near-hysterical man at this point, "but it actually  _lowers_ her chances of meeting them. Not only that, but she was  _born_ with her marks, meaning they were born before her. Normally, humans don't get their Marks until they're five, if they get them at all. This decreases her chances  _even more_. It doesn't help that two-out-of-three times, if one doesn't meet their Soulmate by the age of eighteen, then they won't ever meet their Soulmate."

Now he understood why his friends were so distraught. Their daughter was practically _guaranteed_ to die young, even by human standards. He whined softly at this, looking down at the precious life that he held in his servo, and made a decision. When he wasn't setting up for the arrival of his comrades, keeping an eye out for Decepticons, hiding from Sector Seven, or hunting for Cybertronian objects on the planet - he'd found one by accident half a year ago, so who was to say there wasn't more? -  he would be with his friends, making sure they didn't go through this alone. He knew how lonely an existence without a Sparkmate could be, so he would be the best friend to this little femme. He would make sure that she knew she wasn't  _truly_ alone, no matter how much if  _felt_ that way.

The arrival of their sparkling and the prospect of being bonded on the horizon should have been a joyous occasion for his friends. Yet a single fact about human culture and biology  _prevented_ that, so he would do whatever it took to make sure that they didn't suffer alone. He had known Charlie for a kindred spark the moment he met her, though he hadn't know how or why at the time. Now that he knew why, now that he knew what was at stake for her - he wouldn't just leave them alone. He wouldn't be able to visit often, at least not as often as he'd have  _liked_ , but he'd do whatever he possibly could.

Looking down at the fragile creature, he finally allowed himself to take in little Samantha's appearance. Her eyes were closed, she seemed to be in recharge. Her skin was tinged pink, but he could see Memo's tan skin and he could tell that the small tufts of hairs on her head would grow darker. He was excited to see who she would turn out to look like more - Memo, or Charlie. Either way, he'd make sure to chase off any unsavory suitors, as Charlie had explained that, sometimes, a Marked and Markless got together. Markless apparently rarely fully understood the importance of the Marks, but some were like Charlie and Memo and made the effort. He'd make sure to ask Charlie and Memo more questions so that he could be an adequate "godfather" and guardian to their most precious little creature.

He would do  _everything_ in his power to make her twenty-five years of life at least  _bearable_ to live. Especially because he knew that it would bring comfort to Charlie, and he would  _not_ let his best friend suffer. The war he'd grown up in had already stolen so much, so he wasn't about to let something like this steal the happiness of his friends and their creation.

**Author's Note:**

> This turned out slightly different than how I had originally envisioned it. However, I'm actually satisfied with how it turned out. I hope you all liked this ONE-SHOT prequel to my series!


End file.
